Tutorial: Baby Doll Diaper

For Christmas, my daughter received a Baby Alive doll from Santa. The excitement over this doll is that she pees in her diaper.  A lot.  Unfortunately, Baby Alive came with only 2 disposable diapers.  What's a mom to do?  Make some cloth diapers, that's what! 

Today, I'm going to show you how I did it.  It's quite simple if you are have a working relationship with your sewing machine.  If you aren't familiar with a sewing machine, I can't help you.  A mom can only do so much...

First, gather your materials.  I used flannel for my fabric.  I'm not an expert at cloth diapering, but you will want to use something absorbent.  I have so. much. flannel! left over from making blankies and burp towels for my babies.  If you don't have flannel on hand, think about re purposing an old receiving blanket or one of your husband's flannel shirts!

Not pictured, but needed, is hook and loop (aka velcro). 

Also, you'll need a sewing machine, pins, scissors, etc. 

And my pattern, found here.

*some digits that might be helpful:  Baby Alive is 13 inches from head to foot.  Her waist is 9 inches.  The finished diaper is 10 inches wide at it's widest point, and 8 1/2 inches in length.

So once you have your pattern cut out, prepare your fabric for cutting.  I used three layers.  Believe me, if you are making this diaper for a doll that pees, you will want all three layers!

So now you are doing to pin your layers, right sides together.  Your third layer can just sit on the top of either the top or bottom layer and it doesn't matter which way it's facing.  Just make sure your top and bottom are right-sides facing.

(Oh, and if you are really observant, you will see that my third layer isn't a full layer.  I ran out of fabric.  So my inner layer is just a strip.  Try your best to ignore what you see, and just do as I say!  K?)

Go ahead and begin sewing your diaper, using 1/4 inch seams.  Leave an 3 or 4-inch opening for turning.  My opening was at the back of the diaper.

Once you have sewn the layers together, take a moment to cut your corners and snip around the curves of the leg. This helps the fabric to lay nice after turning.

Turn your diaper right side out, using a dowel or pencil to push the corners out.

Top stitch all the way around the diaper. 

Next, you are going to place your hook and loop on the diaper, and stitch it into place.  Mine was the heat and bond kind, but I found that when the diaper got saturated (which it always does), the adhesive was compromised.  So I had to sew it on.  Word to the wise...

There you have it, Ladies.  Your daughters are going to love you!  Now, go make about three more diapers.  Really.  If your girls feed their Baby Alive as frequently as my daughter does, you'll need that many!

Oh, and one more thing.  Don't sell these diapers, okay? I'm just a girl sharing what works for me.  Don't be all rude and sell something I gave you the knowledge to do.  K?  Thanks!